Index to Topics Covered and To Be Covered
These are some of the topics that we intend to cover here. All of these proposed topics cover areas where our staff has considerable knowledge and experience. The titles we have chosen are intended to be provocative. We want spirited discussions.
If there are any topics below not yet covered (or not even listed) that you especially would like discussed, please let us know by commenting to this or by another means. We will be responsive to your needs for considered, informed opinions or information. We value your comments on what we have done so far.
- Initial Entry {Done, in Thoughts }
- About Bloom’s Taxonomy — in its many incarnations {Done, in Literature with the title — TfHS & ROS Cognitive-Level Coding.doc}
- Mis / Understanding ROS & TfHS {Done, in Thoughts}
- Just say No to Data-Driven Instruction {Done, in Thoughts}
- The purposes and Forms of Assessment {Done, in Literature}
- The Impact of Emerging Trends in Assessment / Testing on Educational Technologies & Vice Versa {Done in Literature with the titles — VSTE MiniConferences 2010 Presentation.ppt & RM Tech conference 2011 Presentation a.ppt}
- Assessment as Science AND Science as Assessment {Done in Literature}
- The Slippery Concept of Mastery {Done in Thoughts}
- The Many Threats to Test Validity {Done in Literature}
- Technology’s Roles in the NCLB Assessment Dance {Done in Literature}
- Passage Readability Levels {Done in Thoughts}
- Are Multiple-Choice Items about to Go Extinct? {Done in Literature}
- So 70% is Passing — And Other Absurdities
- Reports at the level of the Essential Skills vs. at the Sub-Standards level?
- What Writing score do you need to get to pass Writing, given your score on the Editing subtest?
- What’s the use of Diagnostic Tests, Given the Unreliability of Subscale Scores?
- Which Standard(s) does this Item Measure?
- You Can’t Ask “Deep” Questions with MC Items!
- The Truth about Vertical Scaling: Why It’s Very Hard and Sometimes Impossible
- Online, Internet-Based Computer Testing Only is the NOT the Best Way to Go
- Why Having the Highest Quality Test Items — That is, Tests — is Vital
- How to Use Tests to Actually “Communicate” with Your Students: Innovation in Testing
- What is The Rasch Model and Why is it a Good Thing?
- Do we care about Test Item Bias?
- The Meanings of Some Testing Lingo [reliability, validity, item, question, stem, passage, question vs. completion type item, distracter, foil, correlation, discrimination, bias, equating, calibration, Rasch Model, IRT, CTT, norm, test blueprint percentile, number correct, percent correct, fraction score, SE of measurement, … ]
- What about “Change Scores”?
- Ideas for Testing Outside the “Core”
- Why the NCLB has been both “Good” or “Evil”
- What’s the Big Deal about “Formative” Assessment?
- Testing Content vs. Process
- What’s your Assessment IQ?: A Quiz
- Why you should always take a test yourself before you dump it on your students?
- Item-Order and Distracter-Order Randomization
- Why not “all of the above” almost always, and “not here” and “NOT”, occasionally?
- How many distracters are best: 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5? (and is there order bias)
- How hard should our tests be?
- Why should students be in the assessment driver’s seat?
- Should Students Give the Test Makers Feedback? (“Kid-tested” Items)
- What Each of the Four Core Disciplines is Really About: English – Meaning and Style, Math – Methods & Concepts, Science – Vocabulary & Ideas, History – Which/Whose Stories we Remember
- What should a district’s Assessment System look like?
